Consultation opens on plans to phase out fossil fuels in process heat
The Government is now consulting on plans to phase out fossil fuels in process heat.
The Ministry for the Environment is developing a new national direction – either a national environment standard, national policy statement or both – to help councils’ decision-making on greenhouse gas discharges to air when planning for and consenting air discharge permits, following changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) last year.
The RMA changes allow councils to consider greenhouse gas discharges, emission reduction plans and national adaptation plans from 31 December this year.
The national direction will be used as a regulatory tool to develop nationally-consistent rules set to decarbonise process heat.
The current consultation includes proposals on how to implement the Government’s commitment to ban new low and medium temperature coal boilers, phase-out other fossil fuels and requiring some industrial sites to have greenhouse gas emission plans.